Timeline of Ethel

Timeline

 * 1930: On the 23rd of February, a very frail Mabel Normand slowly emerged from her bed and stood up for the first time since she was admitted to Pottenger Sanitorium. Normand, initially unaware, had realized and remembered where she was. The madcap was not in her bedroom, she was in a hospital room where patients with tuberculosis receive treatment. At first she was furious, but then thought about her eventual death. It took a few minutes for the woman to get back into her bed and when she did, Normand thought about life outside the hospital, before falling back to sleep. As weeks passed, the bedridden Mabel’s condition noticeably improved with her learning how to walk again. Also by that point, her lungs became less fragile. By March 20th, her tuberculosis was fully treated and she had finally recovered. After about a year staying at the sanitarium, Mabel Normand was released on the 25th of April. Feeling guilty about rarely seeing her, husband Lew Cody decided to rekindle their relationship, with Cody acting as a caretaker and Normand moving into Cody’s house. Despite being married, the two had never previously lived with each other. Sometime later, Lew received a telegram from Mabel’s older brother Ralph about her father’s declining health. After talking to her doctor, the couple traveled on a train from Hollywood in California to Staten Island, New York. After spending a few days, Mabel’s father, who was also named Claude, died peacefully and was surrounded by his family. The two went back to California after attending the funeral.
 * 1931: After a five year absence, Mabel Normand finally returned to acting, albeit in minor and often uncredited roles. Around this time, Lew Cody revealed to Normand about issues with his heart and other organs. He also discussed to her about what to do in the event of his potential death.
 * 1932: At the beginning of the year, Mabel Normand received a telegram from her brother, Claude Normand about her very ill mother, Mary. Shortly after receiving it, Mabel told her husband, Lew Cody about scheduling a train ride from California to New York. After a while, the two traveled on the train to Staten Island to visit her dying mother. The parent, Mary J. Drury Normand died on the 19th of February 1932 at the age of 62. After the funeral, both Lew and Mabel decided to stay in New York for a few more weeks. Also, Mabel inherited her deceased parents’ house, a two-story, gothic-styled residence. Later that year, Mabel celebrated her 40th birthday by throwing a huge party, which was the first party she threw in a few years.
 * 1933: Mabel realized that her husband’s heart problems have gotten worse and decided to act like a caretaker for him. Also during that year, one of her former co-stars, Roscoe Arbuckle, died of a heart attack after a night of him celebrating his Warner Bros. feature film contract. Normand and husband Lew Cody both attended his funeral and sent condolences to Arbuckle’s widow, Addie McPhail.
 * 1934: Lew Cody’s health has seriously declined and died of a stroke on May 31st. After his funeral, Normand sold most of the residencies she had owned (save for Lew Cody’s and her parents’ house; both were inherited) and decided to leave Hollywood and move back to Staten Island in New York.
 * 1935: Months after moving into her parents’ old house, her former co-worker, Mack Sennett paid her a visit. Sennett had fallen on hard times and was recovering from a serious injury he received in an automobile accident. The two talked for an hour and started to go on numerous dates. They were previously engaged in the 1910s, but this time, it was actually romantic. Sennett would partially retire from filmmaking that year, moved to Staten Island to go live with Mabel, with the two marrying in October.

TBA